1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, a so-called electrographic type of image forming apparatus includes a type in which a conveyance unit provided with a transfer roller is mounted in an opening and closing configuration on a main body provided with an image carrier that forms a toner image on a surface thereof. This type of image forming apparatus is configured to bring the transfer roller into abutment with the image carrier by placing the conveyance unit in a closed state, and to thereby form a transfer nip portion for transfer of the resulting toner image onto a sheet of paper.
Normally, an image forming apparatus with the above configuration has a transfer roller forward conveyance guide for guiding the paper sheet to the transfer nip portion. When the conveyance guide is fixed to the main body, although accurate locating of the conveyance guide is enabled, on the other hand, releasing a jam (paper jam) is difficult.
A configuration is known in which the conveyance guide is fixed to the conveyance unit, and when the conveyance unit is in a closed state, the conveyance guide fixed to the conveyance unit is displaced towards the main body, abuts with a position locating portion of the main body and thereby locates the position of the conveyance guide on the main body. By adopting this type of configuration, the image forming apparatus can ensure operation characteristics in relation to releasing a jam, and can reduce deviation in the disposition of the conveyance guide resulting from component deviation of the conveyance unit.
A configuration in a related technique is known in which a locating projection provided in proximity to the conveyance guide is inserted into a locating hole provided on the main body in response to the closing operation of the conveyance unit to thereby position the conveyance guide on the main body.
However, since neither of the above techniques forms an operable connection between the operation of the transfer roller and the conveyance guide during the locating operation, the locating of the conveyance guide is not stable or accurate. Therefore, guiding of paper by the conveyance guide is not accurate, and as a result, there is the possibility of unsatisfactory image quality, a paper jam, and malfunction in relation to the opening and closing operations of the conveyance unit.